Rob Laurens // Underwood Biographs

I’m Rob Laurens, a Juilliard-trained musician and award-winning songwriter who has been performing for over 30 years. I also have studied folklore and hold a degree from Oberlin College in Folk Songs as Literature.

I love hearing people's stories. I also love writing songs with personal meaning and value. So, I brought these two great passions together and Underwood Biographs was born.

Today, I do the work I love most: sitting with seniors and their loved ones, listening to their stories, singing with them, and honoring their lives through music. 

Underwood Biographs offers a deeply personal service in which I spend time learning about someone’s life, values, and memories, and—then write, perform, and record an original song that captures their story.

These songs become living keepsakes—something families can carry forward through generations, preserving voice, spirit, and legacy in a way that words alone often can’t.

Why "Underwood Biographs?"

A biograph, by definition, is a brief accounting of a person's life, accomplishments, and character. The word -- so similar to phonograph -- also has a wonderfully musical ring to it. The name, Underwood is taken from the brand of typewriter that was my grandfather’s – a 1940s Underwood Champion. He, too, was a writer, from whom I inherited my love of words well-chosen – as well as his actual typewriter, which I still use. The name Underwood Biographs, then, is my tribute to his legacy.